Out of Hand
With new threats emerging and answers in short supply, it’s time to call on some expert help Cast * Sam Yao * Veronica McShell * Maxine Myers Plot P-Type You and Maxine run towards a sewage treatment plant which Veronica says houses one of Sigrid’s most covert facilities. You’re bringing to Veronica the severed finger of the zombie which bit Peter (which he has labelled a “P-Type”), so that she can analyse it. Quick Scan You enter the admin building of the sewage treatment plant and make contact with Veronica. She directs you to a hidden laboratory facility from where she’ll perform a scan of the P-Type. Air Vents You deposit the P-Type in Veronica’s sealed tank, where she begins to scan it. Her scans trigger a reaction in the P-Type, which begins to grow and then escapes containment. Now a full arm, the P-Type enters the air vents of the facility as Veronica protects you with safety barriers. You rush to head the P-Type off at the exit from the air vents before it becomes too big to recapture. Maintenance Ramp As you pursue the P-Type through the plant’s infrastructure, Veronica, Sam and Maxine debate the potential for Sigrid’s anti-immortality treatment to be effective on Peter. Veronica also muses on recent V-Type behaviour suggesting the development of a collective-consciousness amongst the zombies. Sampled Genotype As you enter the sewers, you find the P-Type, but too late. It has already regrown a full body, and is twice the size of a human. Horrifyingly, it has also absorbed DNA from the rats in the sewer. The immortal human-zombie-rat hybrid pursues you as Veronica works on a plan to destroy it. Super-Acid As the P-Type grows and rampages through the facility, Veronica directs you to lead it to the “computer core” room, where she has been developing an experimental super-acid which she believes will destroy the P-Type. As you lead the P-Type through the room, she aims to trap it inside and spray it with the acid. Still Alive Veronica’s acid attack on the P-Type has also severely compromised the structural integrity of the facility, and of Veronica’s systems. As Veronica goes offline in order to diagnose the damage, you and Maxine pause to clean off in a nearby kitchen. Instead of water, however, liquified P-Type goo exudes from the taps, reaching out and attempting to escape the sink. S07E25 // Rofflenet Discussion regarding this mission can be found on Rofflenet Transcript SAM YAO: Maxine, Five? See those tube-shaped buildings on the horizon? That’s the sewage treatment plant. MAXINE MYERS: You don’t have to tell us, Sam. We can smell the place from here. SAM YAO: Veronica says it was one of Sigrid’s most covert facilities before the Ministry fell. Maybe the smell’s a security measure. MAXINE MYERS: Anybody else nervous? Last time we visited one of Veronica’s labs, things didn’t exactly go well. SAM YAO: Veronica swears she’s feeling better now. Anyway, we asked her for help this time. That P-type thumb’s already grown a whole hand since we brought it back from Sigrid’s island. Oh, and now Kytan’s taking care of the absolutely Last Riders. Hey, did you hear Dr. Lobatse’s working with him, too? MAXINE MYERS: She didn’t say. Well, I know Steve’s working to train communities and runners and/in using burn cubes, but Kefilwe and Kytan will do good work together. SAM YAO: Yeah. So now we don’t have to worry about the Riders, Janine says zombie research is a top priority. MAXINE MYERS: Hmm. I get it. We only have a short window now until we have another V-type horde to deal with. SAM YAO: Yep. And we have to be ready with all the info we can get on them. So we need Veronica to take a look at that P-type. MAXINE MYERS: P-type? SAM YAO: Yeah. A V-type with Peter’s abilities. laughs He’s been insisting we call it that. Either that, or - MAXINE MYERS: Or Thing from The Addams Family. Because it’s a mobile hand. Do you think he’s okay? SAM YAO: He’s been working with Sage, I think. The stuff on Sigrid’s island freaked Peter out. He’s always said he feels like a monster. MAXINE MYERS: I might feel that way, too, if my DNA could make one of these. Five, can you take a turn holding the, uh, thing? I hate the way it’s rattling its box. We’re almost at Veronica’s lab. Let’s run. MAXINE MYERS: Sam, Five and I have just entered the sewage plant’s admin building. SAM YAO: Just a mo. Veronica’s granted me access to all the cams in there. MAXINE MYERS: It smells nice. Like someone’s pumping Febreze into the air. VERONICA MCSHELL: That would be me, Doctor. I wanted you and Five to be comfortable. MAXINE MYERS: Veronica! It’s nice to hear your voice. How are you feeling? VERONICA MCSHELL: Better than ever, Doctor. I know you must be apprehensive after the Aqua Center. But my systems are vastly improved, all thanks to the hardware obtained for me by Abel. This sewage plant is largely automated. There are secret lab facilities in a building beside the bio reactors. You can access them via the door on your left. Please head to Lab 14 quickly. The P-type is interesting. I’ll perform a quick scan, but then we must neutralize it. My models indicate it will regenerate faster as it increases in size, and a full-grown specimen would be very dangerous. MAXINE MYERS: This is it, Five. Lab 14. It’s well-polished in here. VERONICA MCSHELL: Given some of Five’s experiences in old labs, I thought you’d both appreciate a sterile environment. MAXINE MYERS: Veronica, I know you’re trying to make us feel at ease. It’s okay. We don’t blame you for the Aqua Center. There’s a big glass tank in the middle of the room. Is that where you want us to put the P-type hand? VERONICA MCSHELL: Thank you, Doctor. I… appreciate being able to be myself with you. When communicating with people outside Abel, I still have to pretend. Please open the box and drop the hand inside. MAXINE MYERS: All right, Five. Hold the box. I’ll open it, and we jump back. Now! opens, P-type splats into tank, bones tap on surface SAM YAO: Ugh. God, that’s horrible. It’s grown back most of its arm bones. It’s thrashing them around like a tail. seals, P-types squeaks against glass VERONICA MCSHELL: I have sealed the tank. MAXINE MYERS: Veronica, a computer just turned on and there’s a glowing green hand outline on the screen. VERONICA MCSHELL: Yes. Even in Sigrid’s top labs, her safety protocols were questionable. I have instituted my own. All high danger experiments now require a DNA print from a trusted Abel individual to authorize. SAM YAO: That’s actually really reassuring. VERONICA MCSHELL: I’m also working on a way to sterilize the facility in case of a serious containment breach. MAXINE MYERS: That’s less reassuring. So I put my hand here? scans and beeps VERONICA MCSHELL: Authorization confirmed. Dr. Myers. I will now subject the specimen to a nanotech treatment to both scan it and nullify its regenerative abilities. Sigrid devised these nanites in case she ever needed to neutralize Van Ark. They are very rare, and I could only find a small sample to work with, but they should be effective here. rumbles MAXINE MYERS: Veronica, whatever you’re doing, it’s making the P-type angry. Its skin is bubbling, but the bubbles keep getting bigger. shatters, P-type splats onto floor VERONICA MCSHELL: Interesting. The specimen should not have had the strength or mass to break out of containment. MAXINE MYERS: Well, it did, and it’s already grown into a whole arm. VERONICA MCSHELL: I am deploying the security partition between you and the specimen to discourage it from attacking. clanks into place MAXINE MYERS: Veronica, the arm just scampered into an air vent. VERONICA MCSHELL: It appears Sigrid’s treatments stimulated growth. Fascinating! I’m sealing off the air vents. Ah. It appears the specimen is strong enough to break through the vent seals. They were only designed to stop pathogens. It has exited the vents in the main inlet station. It should be small enough to recapture for now, but you will need to hurry to retrieve it. The inlet station is on the other side of the sewage plant. You must run. MAXINE MYERS: Veronica, Five and I have arrived at the inlet station. We’re on a platform overlooking a big pool of sewage. No sign of the P-type, and there’s a large pipe dripping liquid into the pool. Lovely. SAM YAO: According to the blueprints, this is where the sewage comes in. Lucky for you, there won’t be much flow. No one’s flushing much these days. MAXINE MYERS: You know, if we do get Sigrid’s anti-immortality treatment working, it might help Peter. SAM YAO: What, you think he’ll want to use it? MAXINE MYERS: I think he needs not to feel like he’s the same as a V-type. Sam, you and I make strong connections. You too, Five. We know other people care about us, that we’re worth something. Peter’s never believed that about himself. SAM YAO: Yeah, but if Kytan can help the Last Riders, there must be some way we can help Peter. VERONICA MCSHELL: I would need to review my nanite research to make it relevant to Peter’s condition. There are clearly elements here I don’t understand. Scans indicate Sigrid’s method went awry on this P-type because of a secondary organism intertwined with the zombie’s biology. This organism was able to break down the nanites and metabolize their energy. The organism is very hard to detect. If it exists in all V-types, the implications are fascinating! Nadia told me that the V-types appeared to become more intelligent the more of them there were. She suggested they might be talking to each other, but I think it’s more significant than that. MAXINE MYERS: Five, I see movement. Oh, it’s just a rat swimming out of a pipe. Wonderful. VERONICA MCSHELL: The sewer rat population has grown out of control in recent years, but my sensors are detecting movement in the pipe too large to be a rat. It must be the specimen. There is a maintenance ramp into the pipe on your left. The specimen is moving away fast. Hurry! MAXINE MYERS: I will never forgive Buffy the Vampire Slayer for making sewers look glamorous. SAM YAO: There aren’t any cams down there, guys. What do you see? MAXINE MYERS: A dark tunnel, and a stream of liquid I do not want to think about. At least it’s only ankle deep. Five, I see shifting in the shadows ahead. Get that box ready. growls Veronica, we’re too late. The creature’s bigger, way bigger! It’s zombie-shaped, but twice my size, and – and I don’t believe this. It’s got a rat tail. VERONICA MCSHELL: Interesting. To have regenerated so fast, the creature’s cellular matrix must be unstable. It may have absorbed rat DNA from the surrounding sewer ecology. MAXINE MYERS: Its face, Five! Other than the rat eyes, is it me or does it look like Peter? VERONICA MCSHELL: Perhaps the zombie inherited some of his sample genotype. growls MAXINE MYERS: It’s coming for us, Five. Run! VERONICA MCSHELL: A specimen of that size will be impossible to contain, but I have an experiment that could destroy it in Lab 43 on the top floor. Get there as fast as you can. Go! crashes down hallway MAXINE MYERS: Veronica, patch us in to Sam? We need to talk to Janine. That thing’s getting bigger. It’s smashing everything in its path. VERONICA MSCHELL: I’m sorry, Dr. Myers. My outbound comms have been severely disrupted. I think the specimen must have gnawed through a cable. MAXINE MYERS: Peter’s definitely not going to enjoy hearing about this. VERONICA MCSHELL: The monster’s regeneration has been compromised by Sigrid’s treatment. That’s why it’s growing tissue out of control and experiencing violent spasms. I have unlocked the computer room on your left. Cutting through it is your fastest route to Lab 43. slams shut MAXINE MYERS: Veronica, this sign says “computer core”? VERONICA MCSHELL: Run, Doctor! The lab is down the next corridor. MAXINE MYERS: Over there, Five. The room covered in biohazard posters. VERONICA MCSHELL: This room is intended to test an experimental super acid I have been developing as a weapon against V-types. When the zombie follows you inside, run through to the far exit. Once you are out of the room, I will seal the door and spray the zombie. The acid should melt it beyond any ability to self-repair. crashes down hallway and roars MAXINE MYERS: Five, it’s nearly on us! We have to get it to come into this room. We can’t let it damage the core! Over here. Over here! roars, door beeps and slams shut VERONICA MCSHELL: It’s in. Dr. Myers, Five, get out now! That room’s about to fill with acid, and it will spill into the connecting corridor. Run! MAXINE MYERS: Keep running, Five, just keep - creaks and collapses VERONICA MCSHELL: Doctor, Five, you can stop now. MAXINE MYERS: Veronica, a huge chunk of the floor’s given way between us and the lab. There’s just a chasm. VERONICA MCSHELL: Only the lab was proofed against acid. Once it spilled out into the corridor, it dissolved a section of the floor and bored elsewhere. MAXINE MYERS: I think I see what’s left of the zombie. It didn’t make it out of the lab. It’s just a – a puddle of brownish goo. VERONICA MCSHELL: Now the danger has passed, I must conduct a full diagnostic. I’m running the building from a single computer core, and it has been severely damaged. I will be offline during the diagnostic. MAXINE MYERS: Veronica, wait - ! Great. Five, I got sewage all over me from the pipe. There’s an employee kitchen over there. I’m going to wash up in the sink. creaks open, goo oozes from faucet Ugh! There’s something wrong with these taps. There’s slime pouring out of them. It looks almost like… Five. Look. It’s the zombie, Five. Or what’s left of it. It’s pouring out of the tap somehow. The goo’s forming little tendrils, like it’s trying to pull itself out of the sink. Five, we didn’t kill it. The P-type is still alive! Category:Mission Category:Season Seven